Apparatus for stretching and smoothing trousers



Il ll .ZmNTUF Patented Feb. 25, 1890.

(No Model.)

T V NICHOLS APPARATUS FOR STRETGHING AND SMQOTHING TROUSERS. N0. 422,059.

\A/l'TNE55Es -UN1Ti3 STATES ATENT Gamers.

THOMAS VERNON NICHOLS, OF AUBURN, MASSACHUSETTS.

APPARATUS FOR STRETCHING AND SMOOTHING TROUSERS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 422,059, dated February 25, 1890.

Application filed Eeptemher 30, 1885-). Serial No. 325,478. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it mag concern.-

Be it known that I, THOMAS VERNON NICH- OLs, acitizen of the United States, residing at Auburn, in the county of Worcester and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements'in Apparatus for Stretching and Smoothing Pautaloons and other Garments, of which the following, together with the accompanying drawings, is a specification sufficiently full, clear, and exact to enable persons skilled in the art to which this invention appertains to make and use the same.

The object of my present in vention is to afford a convenient and efficient means for stretching and removing the shrink, wrinkles, and folds occasioned by wear from the legs of pantaloons and restoring them to the proper shape, and for the similar treatment of other garments.

My invention consists in an apparatus composed of a clamp, preferably of wire, adapted for gripping the edges of the fabric or hems at the bottom of pants and having means whereby it can, with the garment, be suspended, and a pair of smooth-faced pressing pads or plates having means for elastically forcing them together, which plates are adapted to be applied to or arranged upon the suspended garment for smoothing and pressing out the folds and for serving as a weight to give the stretching force, as hereinafter explained.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective View illustrating the nature of myinvention. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the suspendlug-clamp, separate. Fig. 3 is an edge view of the smoothing plates, and Fig. 4.- is a vcrtical section of the same.

In referring to parts, A denotes the suspending-clamp; B, the smoothing-platcs, and C the garment. The suspending-clamp is preferably made from wire in the form shown, with a top bar 1, having a central loop or curve 2, by which it can be hung or suspended upon a wardrobe-hook 3 or other convenient support, while at the ends of the bar 1 wires are extended downward to form outwardlyspringing arms f, and the ends of said arms are formed into long oval loops 5, that are disposed longitudinally parallel with the top bar 1, (or substantially so,) and which serve as jaws for gripping the fabric. Clasps or locking-slides (3 are arranged on the arms 4 for forcing the jaws together by moving said slides downward on the arms and'for retaining them in firm grip upon the pants O. The ends of the wires can be terminated against the arm portion a, as shown, or they can be carried up to the top bar, thus making the arm 4 of double wire and the ends fastened to the top bar 1.

The jaw 5 can, if in any instance desired, be covered with wood or fabric to protectthe garment from injury by the rusting of the Wire, or the wire can have a non-oxidizing coating or be plated with nickel, tin, or other suitable substance.

The clamp is preferably made with two pairs of jaws, as such form affords a central space between the pairs where the seams of the pants can be accommodated without interfering with the firm grip of the jaws upon the fabric. The pressers or smoothing-plates consist of twopieces of wood or other suitable material about siX inches wide by twelves inches long, 7 5 (more or less,) with rounded edges 8 and smooth or polished adjacent surfaces 9, Which plates are combined with a comparatively stiff bow-shaped spring 10, that extends from the central part of one plate around the ends of So the plates to a corresponding position on the other plate, and serves to force the adjacent smooth surfaces of the plates toward each other with a yielding or elastic pressure. Knobs or handles are best fixed on the eXte- 8 5 rior of the plates to facilitate handling them, or the ends of the spring'rod 10 can be bent into a loop, as at 12, to serve as ahandle. In the latter case the spring-bar should be fastened to the plate by a clip or staple 13 3 but 0 if the handle is fixed to the plate the end of the spring may simply be inserted in a recesson the back of the plate, since the spring action will serve to keep the parts together.

The method of using my improved appara- 5 tus for stretching and smoothing pants or trousers is as follows: The legs of the pants are first carefully folded or laid together in the desired position, with the bottom hems evenly laid. The jaws of the suspending- 10a clamp are then placed over the edge of the fabric and the locking-slides 6 moved down the arms at, causing the jaws 5 to firmly grip the horns. The smoothing-plates B are then separated, and the portion of the pants near est the clamp-jaws is inserted smoothly between said plates, which are allowed to close upon the fabric. (See dotted line, Fig. 1.) The pants are then suspended by the loop 2 or clamp from the wardrobe-hook 3 or other convenient support. The plates B are then drawn downward over the fabric to the position indicated in full lines, Fig. 1, thereby smoothing out the wrinkles and folds caused by wear or otherwise and stretching the whole to a uniform shape. The pants may then be permitted to hang for a convenient length of time, the plates B serving asa weight to keep them extended.

The advantages of my invention are that the pantaloons are put under strain and also under pressure, and thus can be kept in as good form as when new by occasionally hanging them away for a short time in the apparatus.

The parts A and B can,for convenience, be connected by a cord or chain 14, if desired.

What I claim as my invention, to be herein secured by Letters Patent, is-- 1. A suspending-clamp for the purpose specified, consisting of a top bar having two pairs of gripping jaws 5, supported thereon by spring-arms 4, that depend from the respective ends of said top bar, said jaws being disposed parallel with each other and the top bar and provided with slides 6, movable up and down on said spring-arms for closing and binding said gripping-jaws together in pairs upon the garment fabric, all substantially as shown and described.

2. A clamping and suspending device provided with a top bar consisting of two intertwisted wires and said top bar having a centralbend for a hang-loop, the wires at the end of the top bar extending downward and being separate from each other, the lower portions thereof forming oblong bows to serve as gripping-jaws, in combination with adjustableslides that embrace said downwardly-extended wires in pairs and have pro ecting arms that facilitate sliding them up and down the fabric, and a supporting-clamp for holding or suspending the fabric, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

4. An apparatus for stretching and smoothing garments, consisting of a clamp havinga suspending-bar with jaws adapted for gripping the' hem or border of the garment for suspending the same, in combination with a pair of pressing-plates connected by a yielding spring and having smooth adjacent surfaces between which the garment is inserted, said plates being adapted to be drawn downward over the garment from the suspendingclamp, as set forth.

Witness my hand this 10th day of Septemher, A. D. 1889.

THOMAS VERNON NICHOLS.

WVitnesses:

CHAs. H. BURLEIGH, ELLA P. BLENUs. 

